Insulating cover for pressurized panel



Jan. 13, 1959 1' sc w 2,868,895

INSULATING COVER FOR PRESSURIZED PANEL Filed Sept. 4. 1953 INVENTOR.

George Them one Scfiwmb nited States Patent INSULATING COVER roRPRESSURIZED PANEL George Theodore Schwamb, Greenwich, Conn., assignor toBurndy Corporation, a corporation of New York Application September 4,1953, Serial No. 378,647

2 Claims. (Cl. 174-138) My invention relates to an insulating cover fora pressurized panel. These panels may be used for establishingconnections both electrical and mechanical through a bulkhead in a shipor plane.

Hitherto rubber or canvas sheet materials have been employed by wrappingaround the panel pins and sockets, and tied thereto by means of astring.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a pre-formedinsulating cover for a pressurized panel that will eliminate thenecessity for hand-wrapping the connections; that may be easily anchoredto an existing panel and which may be made at relatively low cost andassembled to the panel with a minimum effort.

These and other objects of my invention are accomplished and my newresults obtained as will be apparent from the device described in thefollowing specificaion, particularly pointed out in the claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a sideelevation of my invention partly in section, in a typical assembly;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the parts, partly in section;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of cover.

My invention comprises a frame and a boot 12 which may be readilyattached to each other and secured to a panel 14, as will be hereafterdescribed. The frame is suitably made of a rigid material, nylon beingselected as an example. The frame is preferably molded into the desiredshape which consists of two flanges 16 and 18 jointed together by acylindrical wall 20. The length of the wall and its diameter aredetermined by the size of the panel and the type of connection it isdesired to insulate. Flange 16 is preferably rectangular in outline asis illustrated in Fig. 2, with bolt holes 22 positioned in each cornerto match the panel attaching bolts to the bulkhead 24. The remainingflange 18 is circularly shaped to facilitate attachment to the boot 12.

The boot is a suitably formed housing, preferably made of someinsulating material, such as vinyl plastisol, that is sufficientlyelastic to permit it to be stretched over flange 18 of the frame. In theform illustrated it consists of a frame engaging portion 26, a neckportion 28, and an intermediate body section 30 that has a tapered end32. Holes 34 may be provided on the body section to prevent condensationof moisture inside the boot.

The frame engaging portion 26 is outwardly tapered to facilitateentrance over the flange 18 of the frame. The small diameter of thetaper is slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the wall 20 ofthe frame. When the large opening of the boot is pushed against theflange 18, the elastic properties of the material of the boot aresupplemented by the tapered portion to permit expansion into the desiredposition, at which point the small diameter of the tapered portion hascontracted on wall 20.

2,868,895 Patented Jan. 13, 1959 0 clearance of mounting hardware forinstallation.

In Fig. 4, a form of boot is illustrated which is useful ininstallations where the connections are turned to the axis of the panel.

I have found that a suitable material for the boot is a vinyl compound,an example being compound N6 77X- 1013 made by the Stanley ChemicalCompany of East Berlin, Conn.

A mandrel, not shown, having the inner dimensions of the boot, ispreheated to the desired temperature depending on the size of themandrel and the resulting thickness required. It is then dipped in thematerial, a vinyl plastisol, the prescribed length of time and removed,and cured in an air oven, after which it is trimmed and stripped fromthe mandrel.

In the foregoing, I have provided a frame and insulating cover assemblyfor a pressurized panel. The assembly may be easily secured to abulkhead about the connections, eliminating the need for hand-wrapping,hitherto required. The parts are simply made at relatively low cost andcan be accommodated generally to panel installations.

I have thus described my invention, but I desire it understood that itis not confined to the particular forms or uses shown and described, thesame being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carriedout in other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention,and, therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ all equivalentinstrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and bymeans of which objects of my invention are attained and new resultsaccomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments hereinshown and described are only some of the many that can be employed toattain these objects and accomplish these results.

I claim:

1. An insulating cover for mounting over a plurality of electricalconnections, comprising an annular, substantially rigid frame member,having a central opening for mounting over the electrical connections, aperipherally formed shoulder at one end, and a flange at the other endprovided with means for affixing the flange to a support for the cover,and an insulating boot for covering said connections, having a circularopening forming a neck at one end, said neck extending over said frameshoulder and tightly gripping said frame between said flange and saidshoulder.

2. The cover of claim 1, wherein the neck of'the boot is outwardlytapered to facilitate entrance over the shoulder of the frame, and thesmallest diameter of the taper is slightly smaller than the framebetween said flange and said shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,447,157 Burrell et a1 Aug. 17, 1948 2,550,358 Le Grand et a1. Apr. 24,1951 2,560,336 Fisch July 10, 1951 2,602,112 Fisch July 1, 19522,715,654 Lucas Aug. 16, 1955

